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"This village might still have some ANBU or whatever," Shikaku said from the side. "If the next ones who come are ANBU, their strength should be about the same as the jonin from our village."
The others were slowly waking up too.
"If that's the case, leave them to me," Guy said while rubbing his eyes groggily.
"I can help you identify people," said the chunin named Biji, the one who'd been captured earlier. Clearly trying to make himself useful.
"You do realize it doesn't really matter whether you help or not, right?" Akio looked at him. "You betrayed your village. That means you're gonna die, no matter what."
"I... I know. I've done something unforgivable. But... if there's anything I can do to help, I'll do it." Biji stammered a bit, like he'd already accepted his fate.
"Alright then. Tell me—when's the next group coming?" Akio crouched in front of him and ripped the explosive tag off his back.
"Phew..." Biji let out a long breath. He was clearly relieved to have that tag gone. "If they suspect we've defected, then this turns into a tracking mission. Could last a while. The earliest they'd show up is in five days."
"Five days... that's a bit long," Akio muttered, biting his lip. "What if... you ran back and told them you were attacked by powerful enemies and barely escaped? How many people would they send to get revenge?"
"Hmm... I'm not too sure. Maybe one jonin with four chunin?" Biji guessed. Truth was, he didn't know for certain—he wasn't familiar with how things worked in the Hidden Filling Village.
"And what if those five people disappeared too?"
"Uh..." Biji had no idea how to answer that.
Just then, the ninja Akio knocked out earlier started to wake up. He writhed on the ground like a worm.
"He might know more," Biji said as he saw the guy waking up. "He's from the Hidden Filling Village."
Akio nodded, then turned to the newly conscious ninja. "Awake, are we?"
"You... who are you people?" the ninja looked around, stunned. When had so many enemy shinobi snuck into the area around Mihua Village?
"I'll ask you one question. If you guys disappeared, how long would it take before someone came looking?"
"I'm not telling you anything," the chunin growled at Akio. Not scared in the slightest.
"Oh yeah?" Akio gave him a slight smile and gently poked the spot where the Rasengan had hit him.
"AAAAAARGH!!" The guy let out a pig-like scream.
"Talk, or not?" Akio asked calmly, jabbing him again. His screams echoed through the entire cave.
"N-no way..." the ninja was drenched in sweat, curled up on the ground, gritting his teeth in silence.
"Still not talking, huh? Okay." Akio nodded, pulled out a kunai from his pouch, and added, "Then I'll just slice you up bit by bit, sprinkle sugar on your wounds, and throw you in the forest. Let you find out what it really means to be eaten alive by a thousand ants."
He spoke softly, but the threat sent chills down the man's spine. Everyone else felt a shiver too—they hadn't realized Akio could be this dark.
"Wanna give it a try?" Akio asked, drawing a line across the guy's cheek. Blood trickled down immediately.
"Aaah... AH! NO!!" The ninja felt the blood on his face and remembered the horrific image Akio had just described. His whole body tensed in fear. "Stop!! I'll talk! I'll talk!!" Another cut appeared on his face—and finally, his mental defenses collapsed.
"See? That's more like it." Akio sheathed the kunai and squatted in front of him. "Now, tell me—if you guys disappear, who's coming to look for you?"
"Three days later. One jonin, five chunin."
"Just four chunin go missing and they send that many?"
"Our village is in a special situation right now," the ninja said quickly. "We have to resolve everything as fast as possible. If four chunin go missing, they'll definitely send out a large search party."
"Three days... that's manageable," Akio muttered. "And if they go missing too?"
"Then... maybe three jonin might come."
"'Maybe'?"
"That's high-level classified stuff. If that many ninja go missing without a trace, it'll be treated as a serious crisis. It'd cause panic among the villagers too," the ninja explained.
Akio nodded. "Got it. Sounds good—let's give it a try." He stood up, smiling.
"So what do we do now?" Neji asked.
"We wait," Akio replied. "Let them come to us. Once they're weak enough, we'll sneak into Mihua Village and finish off the rest."
"It really is a long-term mission, huh? I mean, how long have we been out here already?" Tenten stood up and stretched. They'd been away from Konoha for ten days.
"No need to rush," Akio said with a grin. "Better to wait here and pick them off one by one than charge in and lose a few of us."
"Next time someone shows up, let me at 'em. My body's going numb from lack of action," Lee said, pumping his fists. He hadn't had a proper workout this whole time—just a bit of training back on the boat.
"Next time we'll all go. Let's wipe them out in one go. Try to keep the jonin alive, though—he'll know more," Shikaku said, smiling at Lee's eagerness.
"I will capture him alive! Don't worry!" Lee said confidently.
"I'll give it my all too! You can count on me!" Guy and Lee shouted in unison, the passionate teacher-student duo as fired up as ever.
"What a high-energy team," Tenten laughed. "Good thing we're teamed up with the brains of the operation. That's what makes this group unbeatable."
"You guys are way too relaxed," Neji sighed. "Don't forget—we're in enemy territory."
"Relaxing a bit is good too," Shikaku replied from the side. "Can't stay on edge the whole time."
"I'm gonna do another lap around Mihua Village. Check if there's any movement," Akio said, heading toward the cave entrance.
"Be careful," Shikaku called after him.
"Got it." Akio waved without turning around and left the cave.
"....."